Solid modeling programs, such as those provided by Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation (e.g., SolidWorks®) and Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC®) (e.g., Pro/ENGINEER), are in common use by engineers and designers to create 3D solid models for simulation and/or manufacture. Unlike other geometric computing programs, solid modeling places an emphasis on physical fidelity, informational completeness, and universality of algorithms and representations. This emphasis allows solid modelers to automate difficult engineering calculations that are carried out as part of the design process.
The emphasis on physical fidelity, however, makes it difficult to add detail elements, such as textures or embossments, directly to a solid model design. For example, in typical CAD programs, solid models are represented as closed collections of surfaces, such as planar, quadrics, or NURBS surfaces (non-uniform rational B-splines). The nature of these surfaces is not well suited to capturing detail elements or performing operations such as embossing or debossing. A designer could create a textured or embossed surface one element of the model at a time, but this would be impractical due to the large number of operations required. For example, a typical NURBS surface may be represented by an array of 200×200 control points, for a total of 40,000 control points. Individually modifying position and tangent vectors associated with each of these 40,000 control points would be cumbersome.
As an example of how a solid model is used in a typical manufacturing process, consider the model of a baseplate for an exterior door handle, shown in FIG. 1. To manufacture the baseplate, a typical process uses the solid model, which lacks texturing and detail, to produce a mold. After the mold has been created, any desired texturing or detail is then added directly to the mold and/or molded part using, for example, hand tools or chemical processes.
This workflow has significant disadvantages. Specifically, because the solid model lacks texturing and detail, the texturing and detail must be added to the mold and/or molded part using extra steps. This increases manufacturing costs and makes it difficult to create multiple molds and parts with identical detailing elements. Considering the above, there is a need for a simple and efficient way to add detail to a 3D solid model.